U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for Sept. 9: Decaf Coffee

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 -- Following is the daily “Profile America” feature for Sept. XX from the U.S. Census Bureau:

FRIDAY, SEPT. 9: DECAF COFFEE

Profile America for Friday, Sept. 9. For hundreds of years, if someone ordered a cup of coffee, there was no question about what kind. Now, many Americans prefer their coffee decaffeinated. The ability to make that choice comes from the work of Ludwig Roselius, a coffee merchant in Bremen, Germany. In the early part of the last century, he developed a process that removed 97 percent of the caffeine from coffee beans, without altering their taste. He described the new coffee as “sans caffeine,” which he shortened to “Sanka.” Today, there’s not only a decision to make about regular and decaf, but latte, cappuccino and espresso. Specialty coffee shops are increasingly popular. There are about 7,000 of them, selling $2 billion worth of coffee a year. Find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau on the Web at http://www.census.gov.

Sources: American Speaker Calendar of Events (Sept. 10); 1997 Economic Census, NAICS 7222135, http://www.census.gov/epcd/ec97/industry/E722213.HTM

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Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments ready to air on a monthly CD or on Internet at http://www.census.gov (look under the “Newsroom” button). For further information, contact Rick Reed at 301-763-2812, fax at 301-457-3670, or e-mail at rreed@census.gov.

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